Female protag as rare as a rat who can cook

From the LA Times on Pixar’s first female protagonist in the history of the studio:

The film brought Pixar’s artists some new technical challenges — it took two years to achieve the precise degree of frizz in Merida’s hair, for instance. But “Brave’s” biggest mark of distinction is its female protagonist, a first for the animation studio behind the “Toy Story” and “Cars” movies.

Andrews said that Merida’s trail-blazing places “Brave” squarely in the Pixar storytelling canon.

“Pixar made the first old-person-centered animated film with ‘Up’ and the first rat-that-wants-to-be-a-chef film with ‘Ratatouille,'” Andrews said.”Pixar is not one to shy away from firsts.”

Wow, a female hero is as rare and remarkable as a rat who can cook.

She’s coming to a theater near you in June 2012. And she’s a Scot. I can’t wait!

7 thoughts on “Female protag as rare as a rat who can cook

  1. Yes, I don’t think it’s fair to just count those movies that have just one lead, but you can see I put movies with a guy and a girl as equal leads in both categories.

    As to the barbie movies, yeah, they really aren’t the best I suppose, kind of low budget and made with a purpose of selling new toys, which is more in your face in some of them than others. But I’ve seen a few of these when I was a kid and I can’t say I find them that bad, they certainly pass for the bechdel test, even your version which demands more than the “official” one, they’re actually better than most disney princesses movies when it comes to that. There’s also one or two movies in which the main characters are a group of girls.

    There are a few very notable ones too, if you have the time, watch one of the more adult ones: Paprika, Perfect Blue, Millenium Actress and Mary and Max.

  2. Rare like Mulan, Pocahontas, Mrs. Frisby, Sailor Moon, Card Captor Sakura, Princess Mononoke, Dot, Babs Bunny, Little Lulu, Little Audrey, Betty Boop, Kim Possible, Peper Ann, Spider-Woman, Jem, Anastasia, Alice, Dorothy, Madeline, the Powerpuff Girls, Totally Spies, My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, Rainbow Brite, XJ-9, Punky Brewster, Word Girl, Raven, Starfire, Dora, The Mighty B, The Winx Club, Slappy,, Ruby, Milli, Kai-Lan, Wonder Woman, Maggie, Ms. Frizzle, Judy Jetson, Pebbles, Wilma Flintstone, Betty Rubble, She-Ra, Lisa Simpson, Carmen San Diego, Leela, Coraline, Lilo, Nausicaä, Lucy, Peppermint Patty, Sabrina, Daria, Angelica, Josie..

    • Hi Scarlet,

      Rare like no female protagonist in the history of Pixar. Rare like major motion pictures for kids hardly don’t allow females to star front and center. Why do you keep visiting Reel Girl if you are so offended by the content? There are many blogs and sites that support your opinion that everything is just wonderful for girls in the fantasy world.

      Margot

    • Scarlet, she was talking about protagonist in movies.

      Sailor Moon, Card Captor Sakura, Little Lulu, Little Audrey, Betty Boop, Kim Possible, Peper Ann, Spider-Woman, Jem, Raibow Brite, XJ-9,Punky Brewster, Word Girl, Daria and Dora are protagonists in tv series, not movies.

      Dot, Raven, Starfire, Maggie, Ms. Frizzle, Judy Jetson, Pebbles, Wilma Flinstone, Betty Rubble, Lisa Simpson, Carmen San Diego, Leela, Sabrina, Angelica and Josie aren’t even protagonists in their own series, only characters among many others in a cast of characters pretty extensive sometimes.

      Have respect for people’s intelligence here.

      Margo, on an entirely different note, please see this list with 92 (and soon more) animated films with female leads. http://myfirstblog5.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/list-of-animated-movies/

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